Caramelized Onion and Bacon Cornbread

A classic loaf of cornbread with a sweet and salty topping of caramelized onions and bacon pieces.

This was one of those last minute ideas that popped into my head the other night, just needing to be made to accompany another recipe I had planned. It was essential. I had visions of a beautifully puffed up loaf of cornbread with scattered caramelized onions and bacon pieces throughout the top crust. Clearly this didn’t turn out as ideal as I wanted but I wouldn’t call this a fail either. It’s imperfectly perfect.

This recipe meant making caramelized onions for the first time ever, and making my house smell incredible from late Saturday night into Sunday morning. Seriously incredible… and I don’t even like caramelized onions. I know. But it was in my vision so I just went with it. Plus, the Mr was up for it and I was really cooking these few recipes for his enjoyment. It’s great getting to test stuff out on someone else occasionally.

On another note… I can’t stop spelling caramelized wrong. I’m one of those people who says ‘carmle/carmel’ not ‘caramel’ as it’s spelled. So that second ‘a’ keeps messing me up. Potato … potahto… whatever. Oh and don’t worry, I don’t spell potato like that ever outside of just then. Just to be clear.

So this bread, it was based off of an already practically perfect cornbread recipe that I decided to adapt slightly turning it into a loaf, topping it off with deep dark caramelized (yup did it again) onions and salty bacon pieces… then I took it a step further and tossed a bunch of bacon into the mixture. Because bacon on the top clearly wouldn’t be enough but fear not, this recipe only calls for 3 slices of bacon… only. But feel free to add more if you really want.

Caramelized Onion and Bacon Cornbread

A classic loaf of cornbread with a sweet and salty topping of caramelized onions and bacon pieces.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion

2 slices of bacon

1/2C unsalted butter, melted (plus 1 Tbsp for onions)

2/3C plus 1 tsp granulated sugar, divided

2 eggs

1C buttermilk

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1C cornmeal

1C all purpose flour

Directions:

Peel and slice onion into thin pieces. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat with 1 Tbsp butter. Add prepared onions, tossing occasionally with a wooden spoon until translucent. Reduce heat to medium low, sprinkle with salt and 1/2 tsp of sugar. Stir occasionally and add a splash of water when necessary to keep onions moist. Continue stirring occasionally until onions are a deep amber color. Cook for a total of 30-35 minutes or longer as needed. Transfer to a small bowl. If preparing ahead, cover and chill overnight.

Hi Rachel! Now this is a bread my boyfriend would go NUTS over. He sometimes gets sick of all the sweet breads I bake (is he crazy? I love sweet breads!). But this is a fabulous addition to a quick bread archive and I must make something savory like it sometime!

so glad you posted this after we talked about it yesterday. it looks SO good with that brown caramelized onion on top (boo, your whole spelling carmel thing tripped me up and i couldn’t even type caramelized haha) and the bacon..of course the bacon!